"We didn't know we already had an ordinance on the books," she said. "A former selectman called me up about it."

Nor did she know about a town law requiring anyone wanting to use private property in town for target practice to get a permit from the town police.

"Our police chief has been in town a long time," Weinstein said. "He can't remember anyone applying for a permit."

Like at least six other towns in the state, Weston is now looking at its ordinances in light of the strict new gun regulations Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law April 4.

That law includes a ban on assault weapons and clips that contain more than 10 bullets and creates a state registry for gun owners.

All some municipal leaders will be required to do is follow the new state law.

In Danbury, for example, the only city ordinance on the books bans hunting at Bear Mountain Preserve on the city's north side. Otherwise, said Deputy Corporation Counsel Lazlo Pinter, the city simply follows all state laws concerning firearms use.

"For us, it's not a problem," Pinter said.

"We have state and federal law," said New Milford Mayor Patricia Murphy. "That's it."

Ridgefield has an ordinance saying town residents cannot discharge firearms on town open space, according to First Selectman Rudy Marconi.

Marconi said there have been requests following the killings in Newtown to strengthen town regulations concerning gun use.

Marconi said it makes sense for area towns to come up with uniform regulations.

"We're waiting to see what Weston is doing," Marconi said. "We may also do a survey of town residents."

Marconi -- now deep in the study of state law -- said the new state gun regulations cover a lot of territory. "The penalties are very severe."

According to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, towns cannot pass any regulations concerning the sale of firearms or hunting.

They can pass gun laws concerning public health and safety if they are in accord with state law, and at least as strict; towns cannot weaken laws the General Assembly has passed.

Newtown -- ground zero for the debate over gun laws and gun violence in the state -- is considering regulations for target practice on residential land.

But work on that ordinance began in August 2012, five months before the Sandy Hook murders.

Mary Ann Jacob, chairman of the Legislative Ordinance Committee, which is charged with writing the new regulations, said the work has been purposeful. She said she hopes the new ordinance will be written by the end of summer.

"It's going to take time," she said. "Writing a new ordinance always does. It's been a learning process, but I'm very pleased with the progress."

Jacob said her committee has talked to the Newtown Police Department, consulted with experts and learned how other towns are balancing the rights of property owners to use their land for target practice versus the rights of their neighbors to not hear guns blazing all weekend.

"We're moving from being a rural town to more of a suburban town," Jacob said. "We have to take that under consideration."

In Shelton, Board of Aldermen member John Finn recently proposed an ordinance that would ban guns from public parks, open spaces and public buildings. He readily admits it doesn't have any chance of passing, since he's the only Democrat on a Republican-controlled board.

Finn said the effort in his town began long before the Sandy Hook shooting, out of concern about gun safety classes being taught at the Shelton Community Center.

Residents, he said, were concerned because children also use the facility and there is a day care center on the grounds. There was also an incident, he said, when an individual entered City Hall and threatened to shoot several people in one of the offices.

"I have nothing against safety classes. I really don't," Finn said. "But the meeting room at the police department would be a much better location."

Most of the people who attended a recent public hearing, he said, objected to this proposed ordinance banning guns from public spaces. Some of those who objected noted they didn't feel safe in the city's new trail system if they weren't carrying a gun.

"They said they were afraid of coyote and bobcats," Finn said. "I told my wife that maybe the city should buy some of those safari vehicles they use at Six Flags so these people wouldn't be afraid to walk through the woods."

In Weston, First Selectman Weinstein said town officials considered tightening regulations in light of the new state laws, but decided not to pass stricter regulations on the size of magazine clips because they would be unenforceable.

"If somebody was driving from Norwalk to Easton to shoot at a club there, and we stopped him for a speeding violation and found a clip larger than our regulations, what could we do?" she said.

What the town's new regulations will do, she said, is basically abide by the new state laws. In addition, while people will be allowed to own assault weapons in town, they won't be able to fire them in town.

Target practice shooting will be banned on residential property.

Weinstein said the new regulations will also strongly urge town residents to store all firearms in a locked gun safe.

"It's not legally enforceable," Weinstein said. "But it will be codified."